After taking in all of Carmella's observations, it was impossible for Bayley not to notice all the little things between the two of them. Carmella was right, darn her; you just had to be looking for the tell-tale signs. The table at the café had more than enough room for all four of them, but Finn scooched his chair just a bit to be nearer Sami. The grin on Sami's face when Finn brought him a commiseratory blueberry muffin could easily have been attributed to Sami just liking muffins before today…but the grin was most definitely targeted at Finn instead of the other tasty treat. They had always been somewhat tactile with each other, which is why Bayley considered all the back rubs and shoulder squeezes as nothing more than friendly gestures (and heck, Bayley hugged them all the time, and that was most definitely platonic)…the hi-five after a particularly rotten joke about Irishmen in bars was perfectly fine, the hurried jolt back when their fingertips accidentally brushed together on the table was more telling.
As the two guys wandered off to Sami's car to head home, Bayley immediately rounded on Carmella, "How did I miss all this before? How are they missing all this?"
"Told ya so!" Carmella triumphantly snapped her fingers, "I refuse to believe Cass and I were ever that dense. Think we should set Enzo on them too?"
"Hey now, let's not get too crazy," Bayley chuckled, "They've got to figure it out sooner or later. Maybe drop a few hints here and there, let them think it was all their idea."
Carmella could only sigh dramatically in retort.
The opportunity for "Operation: Drop It Like It's Hint" came remarkably sooner than Bayley was expecting. It was barely past ten o'clock the following morning when her phone started beeping, which turned out to be a text from Finn.
"heee~eey bayley, you busy at the mo?"
Finn's inability to use capital letters in his texts always amused her.
"Always got time for the Finn-Man, whassup?"
"need a favour, can I come over?"
Bayley didn't have too much time to ponder what Finn was up to after confirming she was home and that Finn could come over anytime. A hurried knock on her door alerted her to the Irishman's presence. One quick check through the peephole to make sure that, yes, it was Finn and…wait…
Bayley found herself unable to keep the giggles in when she opened the door to reveal a breathless looking Finn and his prized red bicycle, "Dude, did you seriously walk that bike all the way up to my apartment? There are bike racks outside, y'know?"
"And leave Big Red all alone outside in the harsh Florida sun? You're crazy," Finn scoffed as Bayley stepped aside to let him into the apartment.
"Big Red? Really Finn?"
"What? I like red; it's a wonderful colour for all sorts of things."
"Is it now?" Bayley smiled coyly, leading Finn into the main living area.
Bayley gave Finn a couple of moments to settle down, checking if he wanted anything to eat/drink ("Just some water, kind of belted it up the road and it's hot as hell out there."), before curiosity took over.
"So, favour-seeker, what's the deal?" Bayley inquired as Finn's expression suddenly turned quite serious.
"Right, uh," Finn fished around in his pockets for a second, before pulling out a piece of paper and handing it over to Bayley. She took a quick look at the hastily scrawled note, scrunching her nose up in confusion.
"These are clearly words, but…"
"It's the album Sami was looking for yesterday."
"Riiight," Bayley turned the paper around, wondering briefly if she was holding it upside-down, "So…"
"So since neither of us are particularly busy today," Finn clapped his hands together and smiled hopefully at Bayley, "I thought maybe we could try tracking it down somewhere else for him? He's still really upset about it, and I don't like seeing my Sami sad at all if I can help it."
Bayley quirked an eyebrow at Finn's casual 'my Sami,' but if Finn noticed he clearly didn't show it. Instead, he continued on with his masterplan.
"Like, I'm obviously more familiar with Sami's style of music…but you know the area better, so maybe you'd know some other places we could try?"
Bayley let out a small 'hmm' as she thought about it, "Well…uh, most of the music places I know of are pretty mainstream…don't think they'd carry Sami's kind of music. I wouldn't have even known about that place if Sami hadn't tracked it down…and he probably would have checked all the nearby places since he wanted it so badly…"
Bayley trailed off as she glanced over at Finn, whose enthusiasm had visibly deflated with every passing word. Bayley immediately scrambled to think of viable alternatives before he began pouting, "But we can always check online, see if there's anywhere he could've missed?"
"Oh! Right, the internet…uh…" Finn looked incredibly sheepish, "Well, your Google-fu is stronger than mine..."
"Fine, let me get my tablet…" Bayley huffed playfully as she went to retrieve said item, "How can a man of this generation be so hopeless with technology?"
"I manage my Twitter just fine!" Finn countered, "Stop mocking my shortcomings, you don't see me mocking your lack of knowledge of the supernatural."
"Can I at least trust you to phone these places I'm gonna look up?" Bayley sat down beside Finn, tablet in one hand, phone being dropped in Finn's lap with no warning. Finn fumbled to grab the phone as Bayley logged on, "Okay, let's see what we can find…"
Turns out, they found very little. Of all the specialist stores nearby that regularly carried Punk and Ska albums, none of them had the album Sami was after. Most of said stores voiced their surprise at Finn being the second person to enquire for it so recently, which proved Bayley's theory of Sami frantically phoning everywhere entirely correct.
"I'm beginning to doubt this record was ever actually released," Finn muttered as he placed the phone back down on Bayley's couch.
"Oh, it totally was," Bayley turned her tablet round to face Finn, "Wiki says it was a semi-limited release to commemorate the band's anniversary, I think?"
"Of course it was," Finn let his head fall backwards in defeat, "Sure there's no more places hidden away in some shady backlot somewhere?"
Bayley scrolled through the list of records stores one more time, frowning slightly at the results, "…well, there is one more place, but it's not exactly 'local'. I mean, it's not like 'next state over' far away, but still…"
Finn quickly picked up the phone, interrupting Bayley in the process, "What's the phone number, then?"
Bayley quickly rattled off the phone number, leaning back in the couch to get comfortable once more. Finn rolled through the same lines she'd heard all morning, awaiting the inevitable downcast gaze of disappointment once more.
The sudden smile on Finn's face was a pleasant turn of events, all in all.
"You do?!" Finn broke into an unmanly squeal as he shot up off the couch excitedly, "Amazing! Look, I'll be over as soon as I can…please, please, please keep it back for me? It's a gift for a very important person. Yeah, it's Bálor…Finn. Fantastic, thank you! Yes!"
Finn quickly grabbed Bayley's hand and gently pulled her up, laughing all whilst engulfing her in a big hug.
"Great work, detective Bayley," Finn beamed as he released Bayley from the hug, "Right, okay, just need the address of the place and I'll cycle on over there and…"
"Finn, this place is like two hours away by bus…I tried to tell you…" Bayley sighed, "I dunno if cycling all that way there and back in this heat is a good idea, but…"
"…okay, so…bus schedules?" Finn turned and pointed wildly at the tablet Bayley had dropped on the couch, "Sami was right, should've stuck with those driving lessons…stupid lane differences from Ireland, I tell you…"
A rattling sound distracted Finn from his wild gesticulations. He glanced over at Bayley, who was holding up several keyrings, mostly small fluffy toys and smiley faces…there may have been a key or two in there somewhere.
"Or I could drive us over, like I was trying to suggest…"
Finn breathed a sigh of relief, "You are an amazing and precious person, too good for this world."
"You totally owe me one for this, Finn Bálor."
"Duly noted."